


thirty kisses (sharkbait edition)

by saezutte



Category: Free!
Genre: 30 Kisses Challenge, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-07 08:06:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4255812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saezutte/pseuds/saezutte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thirty ways Rin puts those lips to good use besides trash-talking, thirty ways Haru finds his lips craving something besides water. You know the drill. </p><p>Contains, so far: indirect kiss, sleepy kiss, victory kiss, underwater kiss (merman Haru), promise kiss, reunion kiss, secret kiss (EXPLICIT), kissing practice, impulse kiss (pizza delivery AU).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Indirect Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [hinallily's 30 Kisses challenge & countdown to the RH mook!](http://hinalilly.tumblr.com/post/122775851410/30-sharkbait-kisses-challenge) Not sure I will actually hit 30 of these or do one a day, but I'll mark it as complete when I'm done writing. I didn't want to flood the tag/my page with ~500 word ficlets so I'm posting them as a chaptered fic, maybe kind of a weird decision but I stand by it until I change my mind. 
> 
> And even though each kiss is not related in timeline/universe, I feel like they're related, er, artistically, in that usually I way overthink everything I write until I want to die but these I'm just pushing out as they come to me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why can't Nagisa ever just let any opportunity for teasing go?

Rei’s Super Healthy Power Dip for the Informal Iwatobi-Samezuka Training Exchange (actually, they were playing video games at Makoto’s and it was only the Samezuka relay team) was spicier than Rin expected. He quickly reached for a glass of water and took a sip, hoping no one would tease him for his sensitive tongue. Everyone was watching Gou trounce Sousuke at Mario Kart 8 anyway.

“Oi! That’s my water!” Except for Haru, sitting next to Rin on the couch, who apparently was watching Rin instead. Well, more likely, he was watching his glass of water.

Rin almost spit the water back in the glass before he decided even Haru wouldn’t be that ridiculously possessive over water and swallowed. “Sorry, sorry.” He put the glass down on the table only to have his arm violently shaken by a gleeful disturbance from the other side of the couch.

“Oooo~,” Nagisa said, his face suddenly in Rin’s personal space. “That’s an indirect kiss!”

Rin would have spit out the water if it’d still been in his mouth. “What?!”

“In~ direct~ kiss~!” Nagisa sing-songed. “You and Haru-chan! Sharing water glasses!”

Rin could feel his face getting redder. The others still were focused on the television, but Haru was looking at Rin with curious intent. Which, really, didn’t help stop the heat of embarrassment. “What are you talking about? We’re not little kids, that’s not even a thing,” he muttered to Nagisa. 

“Aww, but it’s so romantic!” Nagisa laughed.

“It’s not— what are you— I was just thirsty!” Rin sputtered before giving up any response as a lost cause.

Haru picked up his water glass and held it close to his chest, taking a sip while looking at Rin with the fierce eyes of a protective parent. Rin tried very hard to vanish into the couch cushions.

Ten minutes later, Rin had forgotten the problem that started it all and he took a bite of a chip with Rei’s patented devil dip on it. Damn, still spicy. He suffered through the burning in his mouth and was debating getting up to get his own glass of water when something cold pressed against his hand.

“Here.” Haru was handing him his glass of water and staring at him like he was looking for a challenge. 

“Thanks.” Rin swallowed, took the glass, took a sip, and swallowed again, not breaking eye contact with Haru lest he be judged unworthy of drinking Haru’s water. He handed the glass back to Haru and carefully looked back to the video game.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Haru take another sip of the water and heard him mutter, “Hmm. Indirect kiss…”

Rin felt himself blush again but he also grinned and moved just a little closer to Haru on the couch.


	2. Sleepy Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin wakes up in Australia closer to Haru than he'd expected.

The hotel room in Sydney is warmer than Rin remembered it being when they fell asleep. He takes the warmth as a comforting sign of the catharsis of last night, of telling Haru how much he means to him (even if he didn’t tell him everything, well, it was close enough), and now that feeling of happiness, of relief, is wrapped around him keeping him warm  — until he realizes, through foggy layers of sleep, that Haru is literally wrapped around him, head tucked under his chin and one hand cupping the back of his neck.

Rin’s heart somehow both stops completely and starts beating so fast he’s afraid it will wake Haru up. They must have moved closer in their sleep. Their legs are tangled in a way that makes Rin breathe heavily just to think about, let alone actually feel against his thighs. Rin feels Haru’s soft t-shirt under his palm and lets himself press down — not stroke, not caress, just a light pressure, that must be allowed — to feel the solid muscle and bone of Haru’s shoulder.

Of course, Haru stirs and Rin has a moment of terror,  _of course_  he wouldn’t be allowed even that much freedom to touch, but then Haru is moving closer to him and pressing his face into Rin’s neck.

“Rin…” Haru’s voice is little more than a sleepy sigh but Rin hears his name echoing in the quiet room like a bell.

He swallows the lump in his throat to whisper. “Yeah?”

Haru presses his hand on the back of Rin’s neck, pulling Rin’s face slightly down so it’s even with his own. It’s still mostly dark but Rin can see Haru’s eyes, heavy with sleep, studying him for a moment. Rin takes it as his cue to do the same and begins to memorize the feel of Haru’s body against his before Haru wakes up properly and pushes him away.

While he’s mentally tracing the feel of Haru’s hip against his thigh, Haru moves even closer and presses his lips to Rin’s. His lips are soft, relaxed, and the kiss is barely more than a light touch until Haru slides his hand up through Rin’s hair, tracing his fingers through it like fingers catching water under a faucet, and pulls him closer. Rin lets himself be held in the kiss, leans into it, and tightens his own hand in the fabric of Haru’s shirt.

Rin had imagined kissing Haru a thousand ways — in anger, in frustration, in victory, in joy, in the water — but he’d always imagined it as a moment of passion, where suddenly his ability to control his feelings (already limited) would slip away and he’d have to make a move. His imagination differed on how Haru would respond — anger or pity if he was feeling low, enthusiasm (to say the least) if he was feeling up — but Rin had never imagined they could have something like this: a quiet morning in bed, a sleepy kiss, a lazy exploration of each other. When Haru finally pulls back, Rin feels as though nothing really happened — what the big deal? it’s just lips on lips — and everything’s changed.

“Thanks,” Haru mumbles.

“For what?” Rin says, but Haru has already slipped his eyes shut. His breathing evens out and his hand goes loose in Rin’s hair and Rin knows he’s fallen back to sleep, still cuddled against him.

Rin, on the other hand, is more awake than ever. 


	3. Victory Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i live for sappy bullshit at international sporting events with a thousand cameras

At the jump, Haru feels nothing but the pull of the water. Everything he’d thought would be a distraction — the lights, the crowd, the pressure of being at the Olympics in the final of the Men’s 100m freestyle — evaporates in the cool relief of the water. He’s pushing through at a speed he knows he’d never reached but his body feels no stress, no pressure, just an awareness of oneness with the water around him.  

The only interruption is the sense of one person watching him, fighting him, pushing him forward. He doesn’t know who’s ahead but he knows it’s Rin, three lanes away, who is with him stroke for stroke. There are other swimmers in the race, Haru’s sure, but they’ve vanished in the light underneath the water and when he pushes his hand against the sensor at the end of the race, he knows Rin is reaching at the same time. He lifts his head from the water.

Haru’s first instinct on seeing the scoreboard is to close his eyes and dive back under: he’s won,  _he’s won the gold_ , but no joy he feels at knowing he’s won the race comes close to the joy he felt swimming it. He dips his head under, but it’s not enough. He wants to race again. He wants Rin beside him and all the world watching; he wants to show everyone what they can do.

Because right underneath his name is Rin’s, silver, by one one hundredth of a second. A touch finish, so close, like they were one swimmer in two bodies.

He looks over at Rin, wide-eyed, and feels a sudden terror. Gold was Rin’s dream and Haru’s just come along for the ride, been pulled along, really, by Rin’s determination and encouragement. That’s not true anymore, of course, but even if gold became Haru’s dream in the end, it was still Rin’s dream first and Haru doesn’t want to be responsible for Rin going into a slump like when they were younger. He feels his limbs go numb until, finally, Rin looks at him.

Rin is grinning and, suddenly, crashing through two other swimmers’ lanes to get to him.  _I should meet him halfway_ , Haru thinks, but Rin is already there, arms thrown around his neck, dipping him into the water. He’s practically sobbing into his neck: “We did it,” and then just says his name, over and over again, “Haru! Haru! Haru!” The litany brings the background noises back into clarity: the cheering from the stands, the commentary from the announcers, the hum of the lights and cameras all around. He can see his family and Makoto and Gou and Mrs. Matsuoka in the stands, and a whole Iwatobi contingent, Rei and Nagisa off school for the event (though Rei brought all his books) and they’re all screaming and hugging each other.

Rin starts to move away, maybe to actually get out of the water, but Haru loops his arm around Rin’s waist, pulling him closer. “You’re not mad?” Haru whispers.

“Mad? Why would I be mad?” Rin is absentmindedly treading water with one arm over Haru’s shoulder; they must look ridiculous, Haru thinks, unwilling to let each other go with all the world’s eyes on them.

“Because I… “ Haru tilts his head towards the rankings board.

Rin laughed. “Beat me to gold? Of course I’m not mad, it’s all for Japan, right?” Rin pulls Haru closer with one arm, tucking his head close to his. “Your win is my win.”

“Teammates.” They are, they are, they’d gone through all that training and Olympic rhetoric with the rest of Tobiuo Japan about how this was about Japan, the team, and rivalry was healthy but a victory for one was a victory for all. But now Haru feels it: they did this for the team, not just for their teammates, but for their friends and Iwatobi and for all of Japan.

“At last.” Rin tilts his head back so his lips are pressed to Haru’s ear. “Besides, next time, I’m going to kick your ass.”

Haru pulls back so he can see Rin’s face and Rin’s smile is hungry for it, for a win, for another race, a race with Haru. The tension that had been in built up in Haru’s chest since the end of the race unwinds and Haru laughs, genuinely laughs. They’re okay and they’re going to race again.

“Hey, that’s not funny! I’m really going to beat you!” But Rin is laughing now too and settles his hand in the small of Haru’s back, warm and firm underwater.

Haru can’t help but move closer and look at Rin, mesmerized. Haru wants something else, something to mark the moment forever, which is ridiculous since he’s about to have a gold medal to mark this moment forever, but he’s honestly not thinking about that or anything as he closes in on Rin’s lips. He kisses him and the whole stadium seems to go silent. Even the water around them stills in Haru’s mind and the only sound is his own heartbeat making a sound that Haru would swear is  _Rin, Rin, Rin_.

For a terrifying second, Rin doesn’t move and Haru thinks about how stupid this was, how much it’s ruined everything— and then Rin’s mouth slides open and his arms pull Haru close and it’s everything, finally, everything is perfect. Rin tastes like chlorine and victory as he half dips Haru into the water, trying to get closer but with no leverage since they’re bobbing in an olympic swimming pool like they’re dying sailors trying to give each other CPR before getting back to dry land. Haru kicks back and steers Rin against the pool wall, presses one hand to where it was just a moment ago, the touch that won him the gold, and lets himself give in to Rin’s mouth.

A thousand flash bulbs go off and an announcer a thousand leagues away says, “Well— that’s a, that’s a whole new twist on childhood rivals.” Rin’s hands curl in Haru’s hair and Haru can’t bring himself to care about the stadium around them in the slightest.

Rin pulls away finally, leaving Haru gasping for air like he’s been swimming long distance, and Rin’s laughing again. “I can’t believe you— maybe next time, ask a guy out in private before kissing him in front of the entire world.”

“Hmm,” Haru says. “Do you want to go out?”

Rin barks a laugh and pulls him in for a quick kiss on the forehead. “Classy. Yeah, as soon as we navigate the mobscene of reporters you’ve just called down on our heads.” He pulls himself out of the water in a smooth motion and turns around, offering a hand to Haru.

Haru takes it and lets himself be pulled.


	4. Underwater Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Young fisherman Rin catches something he wasn't expecting: a grouchy merman with the prettiest tail he's ever seen.

The merman was all glistening blue scales, with dark hair and eyes the blue of deep water on a clear day. His upper half was a strong but lean young man, about Rin’s age; his bottom half was a thick expanse of fish tail taking up a third of Rin’s deck.

That tail — in all of Rin’s years as a fisherman and going out on the boat with his father before that, he’d never seen a fish tail that looked more delicious. The thickness, the amount of flesh that must be there — he was salivating just looking at it.

The merman looked at him with flat, dull eyes. “If you release me,” the merman said, completely monotone, “I’ll grant you a wish.” He sounded totally bored, like this was an everyday occurrence and he had nothing to worry about. Rin was a little offended — he was a good fisherman, he’d caught plenty of fish, this one could surely muster up some concern for his own well-being.

“What if I don’t want to release you?”

The merman narrowed his eyes. “You could wish for anything.”

Rin smirked. “What if I don’t want ‘anything’? What if I  _want_ —” he stepped closer to press one finger to the shimmering scales. “—this?” He dragged his finger down slowly, tracing what would have been the thigh on a human. The merman shivered under his touch and Rin felt a thrill of triumph.

“What would you want with me?” the merman mumbled, looking away. Rin swore he saw a blush.

“I don’t know. Isn’t mermaid flesh supposed to grant immortality?” Rin said with a chuckle.

The merman’s cool demeanor suddenly dropped completely. He glared at Rin. In a flash, he flipped his tail, his full strength behind it, and dove back into the water, upending Rin and pushing him over the side before Rin could move out of the way. As the cold water closed around him, Rin thought drowning was worth it to see the flash of heat in those cold blue eyes. He was still thinking about those eyes when, out of nowhere, they were right in front of him, along with arms and a smoothly arcing tail, pushing him up out of the water.

With his first breath of air, he whirled to look at the merman, treading water next to him. “You saved me?”

The merman let out an exasperated puff of air. “Why didn’t you just take the wish?”

Rin thought about answering  _Have you seen the way you look? Do they not have mirrors underwater?_  but figured the merman probably could and would hold him underwater to drown. “I’ll take the wish now.”

That deadpan look was back, like the merman thought Rin was the worst type of dense human. “I’m already free.”

Rin traced his fingers underwater until he had a loose hold on the merman’s side. He moved his fingers in a light circle and saw the merman lean into the touch. Gotcha. “You seem pretty captive to me.”

He was glaring again but the merman didn’t move away. Rin thought he’d realized that they were on his turf, so to speak, which is to say, not _turf_  at all, but ocean. If he wanted to overpower Rin and leave him to drown, it’d be no issue at all. Rin would have to choose his next words carefully, so, of course, he went for broke. “I wish for a kiss.”

The merman’s eyebrows creased, confused. “A kiss? From who?”

“You, dummy. I don’t see any other fish people around, do you?”

The merman looked around shiftily, like he was checking for other merpeople. “Okay. But not here.”

“Not here? Then whe—” Rin said as he felt himself pulled down. He took a big gulping breath just in time to find himself fully underwater, with the merman half pushing him down, half holding him up. The salt water stung his eyes but it was worth it for the blurry sight of the merman in his full glory underneath the ocean, where even his human half seemed to take on the inhuman glimmer of those blue scales.

Rin took this as his cue to move and, both hands on the merman’s shoulders, pulled him close for a kiss. It was a struggle to hold his breath while moving his lips over the merman’s, salty water everywhere, and then the glorious pressure of those delicious looking lips almost drove any thought of his own survival out of his mind. He bit at the bottom lip lightly, thinking back to that immortality myth, but the nip just seemed to spur the merman on. He gave as good as he got, teasing Rin’s lips and flicking his tongue into his mouth with forceful intention. They spun, lips locked together and arms wrapped around each other, moving in a graceful arc Rin knew he’d never have achieved swimming under his own power.

When Rin finally pulled back, gasping for air, the merman pushed them up out of the water with one firm kick of his tail. Rin couldn’t tell if he was winded from the kiss or from holding his breath for so long, but he laid back on the water, floating, trying to catch his breath.

“Had enough?” The merman said, going back to his gruff demeanor but there was definitely a flush to his cheeks that hadn’t been there before. Rin reached up his hand to stroke his cheek, the merman looking flummoxed at the contact.

“Not even close to enough, babe. But yeah, that’s fulfills my wish.”

The merman pursed his lips. “That’s not going to make you immortal.”

“No kidding.” Rin laughed. “So where do I have to kiss you to be immortal?”

The merman’s eyelids drooped into a look that Rin could only describe as sultry; he’d just survived almost drowning twice in ten minutes but that look could kill him. 

“You’ll have to learn to hold your breath longer first,” said the merman, as he dove and vanished with one last flick of his tail. But Rin had the feeling he’d be seeing him in his nets again some time soon.


	5. Promise Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin goes to an event in Sydney on Tanabata.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written, obviously, on Tanabata though posted later. A weird thing to do when you live in a different country is to go to things meant to represent your home country.

It was the rain that reminded him, with a pang of regret for the clouds, that it was Tanabata. The clouds hanging above Sydney for sure meant the Weaver and the Herder wouldn’t meet in the sky. Rin had always liked the story, though he’d also felt it was sad— why did they have to be separated, he remembered thinking as a child, even though, even back then, he knew that even people who loved each other had to spend time apart. Now it stung him even more; he wondered if Orihime and Hikoboshi were stronger, a better weaver and a better herder, a better wife and a better husband, each time they met after their long absences.

He knew the Japan Foundation was having an event and decided to stop by after class.

In the central atrium, in a garden full of kids doodling wishes and parents milling about between two huge trees of already-tied wishes, stood an older woman in a dress and apron dotted with marker scribbles and glue. “Oh, Matsuoka-san.” She waved him over.

Mrs. Hasegawa worked there and had noticed Rin wandering in alone from time to time. “You live in Sydney?” she had asked in Japanese when she saw him studying an all-Japanese sign too closely for him to not be able to read it. Switching back to Japanese had felt natural but also illicit, like visiting a house you used to live, and Rin felt both relieved and guilty when he responded. Since then, she always greeted him and, occasionally, gave him snacks she’d made too much of to take him and invited him back to the office for tea. It was nice, Rin thought, having an auntie around.

He tried to give her his best respectful son smile but his mood was still gloomy. “How is the event?” 

“Going very well, if I do say so myself. You can write out a wish, if you like.” Mrs. Hasegawa held out a blue marker and a tanzaku, one of the strips of paper for writing wishes on.

“Isn’t that for little kids,” Rin mumbled, hands in his pockets.

Mrs. Hasegawa leveled a look at him that reminded him less of his own mother and more of Lori when she was calling him out on his teenage petulance. “Don’t you think grown-up young men need wishes too?”

He sheepishly reached for the paper.

Rin wrote out the wish he’d been writing on slips of paper since he was a kid: To go to the Olympics for swimming. He looked at his scratchy handwriting in the blue marker. Should he have written it in English? The wishes he saw so far were a mix of Japanese, English, some in Chinese and other foreign languages he couldn’t identify. Something felt missing in his — maybe he should decorate it like the kids all around him were: “I want a dog” with a little dog in the corner, “help me win the baseball game” with a little bat and ball.

He looked down at the paper and doodled, in one corner, a swimming stick figure. He stared for moment and then, impulsively, added a second. Rin remembered that in stories, wishes always had to be extra clear. He added an extra note: “With Haru.” That guy needed the wish more than he did to get to the Olympics, Rin figured. He stood up to tie the paper to a branch. 

Would it even matter what he wrote, if the clouds didn’t part and Hikoboshi and Orihime never met? The wish wouldn’t be granted then, right? Rin sighed, a mental prayer for clear weather, and, out of a sudden silly compulsion, pressed the tanzaku briefly to his lips.

A blonde little girl, waiting to tie hers up, stared at him. He flushed. “A kiss for good luck,” he said and she nodded sagely as though that made sense. He tied the wish to the tree.

He shuffled out of the building as quickly as he could, nodded politely to Mrs. Hasegawa on the way out.

He tried to skype Haru periodically, so they could both check in, make sure all was well with training. Haru never initiated, so it was kind of a chore, but Haru usually had his computer on in the evenings when he was doing homework and Rin would just dial, see if he was up for a video call. Talking to him, even if Haru barely responded, eased a knot in Rin’s chest that he usually spent most of the day trying to breathe through: this is real, Haru is with him, they’re doing this together.

That night, he called and Haru answered. Rin asked about training, Haru asked about a problem he’d had with his English homework. That was all.

It was nice. Rin didn’t want the conversation to end. “Hey, have you been to any Tanabata festivals?”

Haru looked at him like he was crazy. “No.” Of course, why would Haru end up at something like that? No one was swimming and saba wasn’t exactly a traditional Tanabata meal.

But Rin couldn’t stop from going on a little bit, even though he felt sillier and sillier. It felt like small talk and when had Haru ever made small talk? “I went to one. There’s a Japan Foundation that puts on events. They’re nice there and it’s good to remember home, you know? It’s cloudy tonight though so I guess Orihime and Hikoboshi won’t get to meet.”

Haru’s eyes drooped a little; maybe he was tired. “That’s just the sort of thing you’d like.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rin grumbled.

“It’s romantic, isn’t it?” Haru’s eyes flashed with humor and Rin felt himself warm.

He folded his arms over his chest. “Pfft. I don’t care about the story that much. It was just a nice event.”

“Sure.” Haru was still laughing at him, Rin felt, on the inside at least.

There was a long silence. Rin dropped his eyes, studying the pattern on his duvet cover. He kicked himself mentally for always saying something ridiculous and ruining their talks. He opened his mouth to say good bye and close the call.

“It’s clear tonight,” Haru said abruptly.

Rin looked at screen. Haru was staring at him expectantly. Out of the blue, it hit him what Haru meant. “So they’ll definitely meet,” he said. “In Japan, at least.”

Haru nodded once. “In Japan.”

“T-that’s good. That’s good enough for me.” Rin’s heart was fluttering.

“Me too. Good night, Rin.” Haru ended the call.

Rin laid back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He remembered the dry feeling of the tanzaku against his lips and drifted off to sleep.


	6. Reunion Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haru wants to meet Rin at the airport alone but he can't tell Makoto why.

“You don’t have to come.” Haru shifted the phone to his other hand to pull on his left sneaker.

“Why wouldn’t I come?” Makoto’s confusion was clear even over the phone. 

“I can meet him on my own.” Wallet, keys, phone in his hand—he pulled the door shut behind him and headed to the train station.

“You’re not making any sense, Haru. I’ll see you at the airport.”

Haru grunted as the call ended. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Makoto there to meet Rin, but he wanted a chance to talk to Rin before they saw Makoto. Or not talk so much as— they’d done more than enough talking, Haru thought, three months of skyping their way through confessions of feelings and awkward dirty talk that nonetheless got Haru more hot than anything he’d ever felt (besides actually racing against Rin, though it was a similar experience). Now Rin would be back and they could try out some of those moves in real life, not to mention actually train together and Haru could barely contain his excitement.

But he’d forgotten to mention to Makoto the change in his and Rin’s relationship status. He hadn’t been hiding it, per se, but it started so gradually and he’d been unsure how Rin would feel about him telling people and Makoto never asked about his conversations with Rin. They’d been busy with school. These were terrible excuses, Haru knew, but thinking about how he’d never mentioned it just made him feel too guilty to bring it up.

He saw Makoto when he got to International Arrivals, studying the screen. Sydney → Tokyo, on time, 5:20 pm. 20 minutes. Makoto had made, unbelievably but also completely in character, a sign that said, in English, WELCOME HOME RIN MATSUOKA and, underneath in Japanese, OKAERI MATSUOKA RIN, decorated with markers and glitter and little tissue paper pink petals.

Haru eyed it skeptically.

“I got some arts and crafts supplies in case the twins came to visit,” Makoto said, hand on the back of his head.

Haru looked away. Should he have brought something? What could he give Rin? “He’ll love it.” Makoto smiled.

20 minutes, 19, 15, 10, 9 minutes left. Then it was 5:20 and Haru stretched his neck up to better see through the crowd. No sign of Rin.

Makoto laughed at him. “His plane just landed, Haru. He still has to go through customs and pick up his luggage.”

Haru nodded. He put his hands in his pockets. He took them out. He put them in again. Makoto was chatting quietly about the things they’d planned to do with Rin in Tokyo: a yakiniku restaurant, this pool, an aquarium, a different pool, a karaoke place. Haru nodded along with each, trying not to think about the plans he’d made for Rin when they got back to his apartment. Haru had honestly never thought about sex before Rin had mumbled “I like you, Haru, I want—” into his computer mic, but once he’d known it was an option with Rin, he’d started thinking about it whenever he wasn’t thinking about water. Sometimes he combined the sex thoughts with the water thoughts; the bathtub in his apartment, the main reason he’d picked this place, was almost definitely big enough for two.

“There he is!” Makoto nudged Haru’s arm and held up his sign and there he was. Rin, looking much like he’d seen him on video the night before but so much better, real and three dimensional and smiling, dragging his suitcase towards them at a fast clip.

“Haru! Makoto!” Rin was waving one hand and grinning. Haru felt his whole chest constrict.

“Welcome back, Rin!” Makoto held up his sign.

“I’m home,” Rin said, eyes sliding over the sign with a smile and then over to Haru, where they rested, heavy with meaning.

Haru couldn’t bear it. “Makoto, hide your eyes.”

“What? Why?” Makoto squawked. 

“Turn around.” Haru pressed one hand to Makoto’s shoulder trying to turn him.

“I don’t— what—” He sputtered but he turned, putting his hands over his eyes. “Now what?”

“Yeah, Haru, now what?” Rin smirked, eyebrows raised.

“This,” Haru whispered, and grabbed the front of Rin’s sweatshirt with both hands. He pulled and Rin was already leaning in to meet him, ready to rise to the challenge as always. When their lips met, Haru was shocked at the unfamiliarity of lips he’d thought about so often. Rin’s mouth opened under his, wet and hot. Haru slid one hand up to stroke the hair at the back of Rin’s neck — Rin had mentioned liking that — and Rin’s arms tightened around his back with a soft thud as Rin dropped his suitcase. Haru teased at Rin’s lower lip with his teeth — he’d thought about that, was that something people really did — and Rin pulled away just enough to moan “Haru” against his lips.

“Eh?!” Makoto’s shocked cry rang out through Arrivals, causing almost more of a stir than the two boys making out. “You two— what is this?!”

Rin pulled back and looked at Haru. “You didn’t tell him?!”

Haru considered his options. “Makoto. Rin and I have been…” He looked between Makoto and Rin, trying to work out a sentence ending. “…together.”

The anger and confusion on Makoto’s face dissipated in a blink and he burst out laughing. “Well, I can see that.”

Rin was still frowning. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell him!” Haru shrugged.

“I can’t believe neither of you told me,” Makoto said. “But I’m so happy for you!” Then they were both wrapped in a hug from Makoto so big and close that it was impossible for Rin to stay frowning. Rin and Makoto were laughing with their arms around him and he had a full week of Rin ahead, showing him everything he could — Haru felt light like he was floating on a wide gentle sea. They walked to the train, Makoto with his arms over their shoulders and Haru and Rin with their hands clasped behind his back.


	7. Secret Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haru and Rin burn off the post-race adrenaline in the locker room in a way they don't want the others to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY SOME ACTUAL PORN

After practice, Rin found Haru in the locker room, past the third set of lockers. He looked like he hadn’t even started to get changed, still in his suit, still wet with his towel ignored beside him. He was sitting on a bench, breathing a little heavier than usual, Rin thought, but he stood up quickly when Rin came in.

“That was some race.” Rin moved to stand closer to Haru, unable to take his eyes off the droplets of water drying on his collarbone.

“Was it?” Haru looked at him with complete innocence but something about the way his mouth hung open, just slightly, told Rin all he needed to know.  

“Don’t play dumb. That’s got to be the best time we’ve ever posted and it wasn’t even competition.” Rin was bouncing on his heels, almost giddy with adrenaline, but he slipped his hands into his jacket pockets to make it look just a little cooler. He realized too late that he’d said “time” and “we” like they were only one swimmer. It had felt like that, at the end of the race.

“I didn’t notice the time.” Haru’s eyes were darting up and down, like he was trying not to make eye contact but still failing to look away.

Rin ran a hand through his hair. “Seriously? That’s—” He was about to say ridiculous, but he sighed instead. “—so typical of you, actually.” That got Haru’s attention to focus on Rin at last, even if it was a glare. Rin threw up his hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way.”

Haru dropped his eyes again and let out a little puff of air.

Rin drew himself closer to Haru. He reached out and circled Haru’s wrist with his fingers, not in anger, but with a gentle touch. He imagined, suddenly, what it would be like just to take his hand and he wanted to, wanted to be the type of person who could hold Haru’s hand without either of them making a single comment but they— well, they weren’t there. He rubbed his thumb along the inside of Haru’s wrist. “Even if you’re not interested in the times, you know this means—” he fumbled for words that meant what he wanted to say with no added pressure, “If we both keep improving, we’ll be able to keep swimming together, right?”

“I know.” Haru looked at him now, with the focused intensity he usually reserved for new bodies of water. “I didn’t notice the time, but I noticed you.”

Rin felt all his breath escape him as Haru jerked his wrist back, pulling him forward and close, so close to Haru that Rin could see the flutter of his pulse in his neck. Haru had backed himself up against the lockers and leaned back so now Rin was boxing him in — accidentally! he thought before his brain rapidly stuttered to a halt. Haru’s wrist was still thick and firm in Rin’s fingers.

“I noticed you. And I wanted…” Haru’s mouth was left slightly open, like he was going to finish the thought or just needed it open to catch his breath. Rin dragged his eyes away from Haru’s lips and the tiny tip of tongue visible behind small white teeth.

He swallowed. He needed Haru to finish that sentence. “What did you want?”

Haru reached up one hand to Rin’s neck. He toyed with the strands of hair there, still wet but the tips of his fingers felt like they were burning Rin. “To touch.”

Rin froze at the promise of those words.  _To touch._  Haru wanted to touch him? Haru wanted to touch him and was, in fact, pulling him closer until Rin’s face was so close that Rin could see each of Haru’s eyelashes as he blinked and said, “Can I?”

Rin wasn’t sure if he actually said yes or if his whole body just willed yes at Haru, because suddenly they were kissing. Haru’s lips were so much more than he’d ever imagined and his heart was beating faster than it had during the race. He dropped Haru’s wrist to sink his hands into Haru’s hair and  _pull_ , desperate to feel him closer. He slid his mouth open against Haru’s and felt Haru open up underneath him, his mouth hot and slick.

Haru’s hands tugged at his jacket, pushing it open and roaming over the bare skin. He could feel Haru’s hands everywhere — like, seriously, was the guy an octopus? — moving like they were learning each section of skin. Rin broke the kiss to moan as Haru ran one hand down his chest; every part of him felt super sensitive, like his whole body had been primed to respond to Haru’s touch.

When Rin moved in to kiss him instead, Haru turned his head and exposed his neck. Rin hesitated for a moment and then took the invitation, pressing his lips underneath Haru’s jawline. He kissed and then he nipped, a little sucking bite down Haru’s neck. Haru’s breath stuttered, Rin could feel it against the top of his head. Haru reached a hand up and pressed it to the back of Rin’s head, claw-like in Rin’s hair, so that he couldn’t pull away from Haru’s neck. Rin grinned, satisfied he’d done well, and kept going, biting a little trail down Haru’s neck until he reached his collarbone. Haru didn’t make a sound, but his breath kept catching, little hitches at each bite, and his hand was kneading Rin’s hair in rhythm.

Rin chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Haru whispered. Rin pulled back a little and looked at him — god, dammit, he’d left marks that were clearly  _bites_  that everyone in the world would  _see_  because Haru was always tearing off his clothes to jump in fountains or whatever, this was a disaster, but Rin liked the look of them, couldn’t help being proud of them and how Haru’s face was red and eyelids drooping and, against Rin’s thigh, his dick was hard and Rin was the reason.  _He’d done that_ and now he knew what Haru looked like turned on and paying attention to Rin and Rin only.

“Just you enjoying me chewing on you like a dog with a bone.” Rin tried to sound cool but his voice to his own ears sounded full of wonder and he thought he wasn’t fooling Haru for a second.

“You’re calling yourself a dog?”

Rin rubbed Haru’s erection through his swimsuit. “And you’re the bone—Hey! Ow!”

Haru had pinched his side, hard and not in a sexy way. “You deserved that.”

Rin had to admit he had and now he had to get Haru back on track. “Sorry, sorry, can we just—”

“Shut up,” Haru mumbled, already against Rin’s lips and then they were kissing again. Rin felt Haru’s fingers, thin but strong, moving around the waist of his swimsuit, pulling and pushing it down. Rin reached down to help and soon Rin’s own erection was free in the open air. Before Rin could even follow that sensation through to its logical conclusion, Haru was touching him with long, firm strokes, his hand feeling out the various regions of Rin’s dick like he’d just won a prize. The still-wet swimsuit had left enough water behind that the friction was only just the right side of smooth. Rin fell forward, one hand leaned against the lockers, and his head pressed against Haru’s shoulder.

He couldn’t help it — another moan rose up from his throat. It was too much, the sensation was overwhelming. He moaned again and then, a little sob of  _Haru!_  as Haru added a slight twist of his wrist on a faster stroke.

A door slammed.

They both froze.

“The others are coming in,” Rin murmured into Haru’s ear. “They’ll hear.” Nagisa’s bright laugh was already echoing in the locker room.

“You’re the one making noise.” Haru gave his cock another long stroke, because what the fuck, Haru? Rin moaned, of course, but that wasn’t his fault. Two could play at that game; Rin peeled Haru’s swimsuit down just enough so he could get a grip on his erection, giving Haru the same long stroke — Haru kept doing it to him, so it was probably what he liked himself — to show him who’d be making noise, but Haru only let out a low stuttering breath at the sensation, letting his eyes fall closed. “See,” Haru whispered, “If they hear anyone, they’ll hear you.”

“Then why don’t we—” Rin pressed another kiss to Haru’s neck, “—stop? Get changed, go home—”

Haru pulled on Rin’s hair a little roughly. “Don’t you dare.”

Rin laughed. “All right, all right. I have an idea, if you’re sure you can keep quiet.”

“I’m sure.”

“Are you?” Rin went back to kissing his neck but didn’t stop at the collarbone this time, moving down Haru’s chest with lips and fingers until he had to shift his legs to kneel. Haru was staring down at him with wide eyes now. Rin pushed Haru’s bathing suit down to mid thigh, so his cock was now fully on display. Rin had seen plenty of other guys naked — athlete at an all boys’ school, it never seemed like a big deal — but this was the first time he’d looked at an erection, other than his own, with intent to touch. He took Haru’s cock in one hand and pressed his mouth, open, to the base, just to taste. The shiver that went through Haru was enough to overwhelm him with sensation, a rush of knowing he had all the power to make Haru react and — if he could work this right — make him come.

“So my mouth will be occupied and you won’t make a sound.” Rin leered up at Haru, hoping the challenge was clear: Rin was going to do everything he could to make Haru cry out.

Haru nodded with determination. “I won’t. Just get on with it.”

“Bossy, bossy,” Rin mumbled. He eyed Haru’s cock, trying to work out a plan of attack. He spit on his hand and circled it, stroking; the feel of Haru growing harder under his touch was making Rin himself harder. He pressed his mouth to the tip, feeling it with his tongue.

“Where did Haru-chan and Rin-chan go?” Rin could hear Nagisa’s voice beyond the set of lockers hiding them. Rin slid his mouth over the head of Haru’s erection. Haru jumped, almost, at the sensation, but he was biting his lip so no sound slipped out.

“They must have gone home already.” Makoto sounded a million miles away from what Rin was doing. Rin began to move his head up and down over Haru’s cock, circling it with his tongue. Haru’s thighs were shaking slightly. Rin added his hand to stroke the bottom while his mouth worked the tip. One hand sunk into Rin’s hair again, not pulling or holding him, but loosely intertwining with the strands. Rin wondered for a moment if Haru would hold his head there, if Haru would want to fuck his face like they do in porn and found himself craving it, the feeling of Haru fucking him — but not this time, this time was too new and Haru, he knew, wasn’t going to take liberties.

“Leaving without us doesn’t sound like them,” Rei’s tiny voice might as well have been on the fucking moon. Rin looked up at Haru, think that he’d give him a bit of a show but his eyes were closed — wait, actually they were open just a sliver and looking at him with such focus that the reality of what he was doing hit Rin. Under those cool eyes, now sharp with the fire he’d always felt lucky to see in races, Rin blushed but felt no desire to stop. Those catches in Haru’s breath were back with each bob of Rin’s head and he could tell he was close to getting the desired moan.

“They’re not here, maybe they’re back here—” Nagisa’s voice cut in and out of Rin’s awareness, as he focused on the task at hand. Haru was stroking his hair now too, but his movements were growing more and more erratic. Rin increased the pace until the hand in his hair was tightening and, yes, there it was: Haru moaned out loud.

They both froze for a moment, but there was nothing to worry about. Nagisa was already chirping.  “Eh, I bet Mako-chan’s right, they’re probably already at the train station. Come on, let’s catch up.” And then there was another door slam and they were gone. Haru visibly relaxed and moaned again as Rin twisted the hand stroking him slightly.

A part of Rin wanted to pull off and say _I got you!_  but really that would defeat the purpose of the whole thing, as the warm weight of Haru’s cock on his tongue reminded him. He wanted to hear more moans, after all. Soon Haru wasn’t holding back, though he wasn’t exactly noisy, and the soft sounds coming from him did wonders for Rin’s own erection and his ability to judge what Haru was enjoying, what he could do to make Haru come.

“Rin, I’m— I’m—” and there it was, Haru was coming. Rin slid his mouth over Haru’s cock for the last hurrah, letting the little jets of come hit him on the back of the throat. He choked, a little, but swallowed and was careful to look up at Haru as he did it.

Haru, post-orgasm, looked at Rin with widened eyes and slid to the ground to kneel beside Rin. “Are you— can I…?” He reached for Rin’s erection and Rin nodded, letting his head fall against Haru’s shoulder again. His orgasm, when it came, was overwhelming but calming, comforting, wrapped up in Haru’s arms on the chilly locker room floor. They sat there for a moment.

Finally, Rin spoke. “Was that what you wanted?”

Haru moved his head so he could meet Rin’s eyes. “More. Better than I’d hoped.”

Rin laughed. “Good. I’m glad. I’m…” He didn’t know what else to say. Or he did, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t there yet.  

“You don’t have to say it.” Haru sounded like he was thinking the same thing Rin was.

Rin pressed his face in Haru’s neck, the same place he’d left covered in marks. “Another time. Next time.” He’d say it then.

“Yes.” Haru paused. “You know Nagisa saw us, right.”

“What?!”


	8. Kissing Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a visit back from Australia, Rin comes out as gay to Makoto and Haru. Haru finds himself more troubled by the information than he should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think this is in the same universe as the Tanabata / Promise Kiss ficlet, just two months later.

In a way, this was another thing Haru could blame Makoto’s girlfriend for, since they were talking about her when the topic came up. Wasn’t it bad enough she was monopolizing Makoto’s time without her existence making everyone suddenly concerned with romantic entanglements?

“So her name’s Miho and she’s studying econ — she’s much smarter than me, definitely going to get picked up by a top company when we graduate,” Makoto chirped excitedly at Rin over tea in Haru’s tiny living room. Well, living area; it was the same room as the kitchen, where Haru was cleaning up after dinner.

“So you’re going to be a house husband, then?” Rin asked. There was some hesitation in the way he asked, but his tone was all teasing smiles.

Makoto, Haru could tell by his answering laugh, was blushing. “No! We’re not _engaged_ , it’s only been five months!”

Rin laughed. “All right, all right, not settling down yet. Still, that sounds like a pretty good deal for you — high-powered exec wife, you can stay at home with the kids, teach swimming on the side.”

“He’ll have to learn how to cook first,” Haru added.

“Miho’s been teaching me some, she’s such a good cook—” Haru glared “— not as good as you, though, Haru-chan.”

“Stop with the -chan,” Haru mumbled. He scrubbed extra hard at a spot on a plate. How could Makoto go on and on about this girl who seemed, to Haru, perfectly nice but nothing too interesting? She didn’t even swim.

“She sounds great, man,” Rin cut in. “When do I get to meet her?”

Makoto beamed. “I’ll invite her to dinner on Saturday. You wanted to get yakiniku, right?”

Rin nodded and grinned. “After a few days at Mackerel Mansion here, I’ll need it.”

“Don’t like it, don’t eat it,” Haru snapped but it just made Rin laugh.

Haru turned around to glare but then he saw Rin looking up at him from the table, smiling. “You haven’t changed at all,” Rin said, half to himself. Haru felt his face warm and turned back to the dishes.

“So are you seeing anyone, Rin?” Makoto asked. This was the last straw; Haru was about to turn around and tell Rin he didn’t have to answer, to ban any more talk of romance in his apartment, but Rin had already answered.

“Eh? In Australia? No, uh, not really.”   

Haru dropped the plate he was washing. The clatter of the china against the sink broke the flow of conversation. Haru turned quickly to mumble sorry and saw them both staring at him. But as he turned picked up the plate again, they started again. Haru couldn’t tell if he wanted to ban all conversation about romance or if he wanted an exact elaboration of what Rin meant by “not really.”

“I mean, I’ve been on dates, but I’m not really with anyone.” Rin sounded as embarrassed by the topic as Haru felt. Haru tried to act like he wasn’t paying attention but he half turned at the sink so he could see Rin, looking uncomfortable.

“Can’t find the right girl?” Makoto was sympathetic.

“Not exactly.” Rin paused and picked up his tea. What looked like it was going to be a quick sip got longer and longer as Rin just downed the whole thing like an old man drinking whiskey in an old movie. “I want to tell you guys something that might— it might change the way you look at me, but I know our friendship is strong enough. I trust you guys, but this has to stay a secret from everyone.”

Haru felt a pit in the bottom of his stomach. He turned around entirely now, not wanting Rin to feel like he was ignoring his important secret but feeling a little like he was turning to face a firing squad.

Makoto’s face twisted up in concern. “Of course we won’t say anything. Is everything all right?”

Rin sat up straight and looked at both of them. “I think I’m — no, I  _am_  gay.”

Makoto didn’t miss a beat. He reached one hand forward and covered Rin’s hand on the table. “Thank you for telling us. We’re your friends no matter what.”

Rin seemed to relax at that and turned his hand over so he could squeeze Makoto’s. “Thank you. I knew that you’d understand but it’s still stressful, you know.”

Haru hadn’t moved. He was studying Rin’s face, smiling a little at Makoto. He thought about how scared Rin must have been to tell them something that, if it had been anyone else, wouldn’t even have mattered to Haru. He couldn’t care less about anyone being gay. But it mattered that Rin had said it; everything about Rin mattered to Haru. He had a thousand questions about what this would mean for them, for swimming, but he suddenly realized he was just staring at them and Rin and Makoto were staring back, Makoto a little confused and Rin, of course, worried.

“Haru? Is it— are we okay?”

“Of course.” Haru moved away from the sink to sit at the table, next to Rin. He wanted Rin to know that he wasn’t feeling weird about it, that he still wanted to be around him, but he didn’t know how to reach out a hand like Makoto had.

Somehow this just made Rin more suspicious of Haru’s reaction. “What? Aren’t you going to make a smart ass comment about how it figures, I’m so  _romantic_?”

“No.” It hadn’t even occurred to Haru; he was a little shocked Rin thought it would have. “Did Yamazaki say that when you told him?” It had been ages since he’d seen Yamazaki, but Haru’s voice still got a little sharper when he said his name. Yamazaki probably had made some awful comment.

“I haven’t told Sousuke yet.” Rin’s eyes were studying the table. “You’re the first people from home I’ve told except Gou.” He glanced up at Haru. Haru couldn’t stop his eyes from widening and he wondered what Rin saw in them when their eyes met. Rin’s lips tightened into a little frown and Haru wanted to say something, say he didn’t mind, say he wasn’t surprised, something, but he just didn’t know what this meant. It wasn’t that Rin was dating men; it was that he’d never thought about Rin dating anyone.

Makoto interrupted just as Haru was about to form the words and usually Haru was happy to let Makoto speak for him, but at this exact moment, he wished he’d shut up. “We’re happy you trusted us. I’m sure the rest of your family and friends will be supportive.”

“Gou said so too.” Rin smiled, a little thinly. “I just hope it won’t matter for the Olympics.”

Even Makoto was speechless at that. After a moment, though, he reached out an arm to throw over Rin’s shoulder. “You won’t be alone, no matter what,” he said, pulling Rin into a hug.

Rin laughed, sounding more relieved than amused. Makoto waved to Haru with his free arm and Haru slipped into the hug too. Rin paused before putting his arm over Haru’s shoulder and Haru felt the anxiety tightening in his chest loosen a little. Maybe this didn’t mean anything for them, but Haru was a little worried that the repercussions for going to the Olympics hadn’t even occurred to him. All he'd thought of had been the repercussions for himself, left alone when all his friends started dating, even the one he thought would be with him the whole way.

—-

Makoto stayed until late, talking about nothing much — you couldn’t just leave abruptly after someone came out to you, apparently, even if dinner was over and it was a school night and you’d just been saying you should head home soon. By the time he went home, Haru and Rin both were so tired, they fell right asleep, Haru in his bed, Rin in the futon he’d made up on the floor. As they were drifting off to sleep, Haru tried to say something to make up for his earlier silence. “It’s okay,” he whispered, but Rin’s breathing had already evened out into the smooth rhythms of sleep.

The next day, their schedule was touring, training, swimming and it was everything Haru had hoped swimming with Rin again would be. Even Haru’s notoriously taciturn coach (they were well-matched) had grunted, “You’re on today. He’s good.” Everything was going so well that Haru forgot there were things outside of swimming to be worried about — but he remembered when he saw Rin talking to one of the other swimmers on the team after their practice. He brushed it off as Rin’s captain-like friendliness, but what if Rin started dating another swimmer? Would Rin even have time for their swimming? He frowned as he picked up his bag.

An arm looped around his shoulder and he froze.

“Ready to head back?” Rin said but then he must have caught Haru’s expression. The arm vanished and suddenly Rin was carefully distant from Haru, two feet away as they walked. Haru nodded and tried to move closer, but Rin kept his distance, making casual conversation. Not at all like how he felt in the water, not at all like how he used to talk about them and their future.

It was an unseasonably warm day for September and the air outside was thick with heat and the scent of olive trees. By the time they reached his apartment, Haru was annoyed, that particular type of irritation that comes when you want to blame someone else but you’re beginning to suspect you’re the one who messed up.

“Do you want to do something?” Rin dropped his bag next to the table. Haru felt self-conscious now that he hadn’t planned anything for them beyond swimming.  

“I have a lot of homework.” It was, quite possibly, the lamest thing Haru had ever said and Rin didn’t seem to buy it for a second. He sat down and began to pull out this supposed homework.

Rin’s eyebrows scrunched and for a second, Haru thought he was confused — did they not have homework at Australian universities? — but then he recognized Rin’s classic angry face, now restrained behind a steady rhythm of deep breaths like Rin had taken an anger management course.

Rin sat down next to him at the table. “Listen, Haru, do we have a problem? Because you’ve been fucking weird.”

“I haven’t.”

“You have!” Rin raised his voice just a little, and then ran his hand through his hair as if to calm it. “And it seems like it has something to do with what we talked about last night!”

Haru looked away. “What did we talk about last night?”

“Me being— you know! Wait, are you kidding me?”

“It doesn’t.”

“I can’t imagine when you’d have even thought enough about gay people to start to be weird about them. Seriously, how could it possibly hurt you what I or anyone else does with our private lives?”

“It could!” Haru snapped before he realized what he was saying. “And I just said it doesn’t matter.”

Rin looked straight at him now, his expression now totally open and hurt and Haru felt more like a piece of shit now than he ever had in his life. “Seems like it does to me.”

Haru sighed and did his best to look Rin straight in the eye. “I don’t care if you’re gay.” That wasn’t quite right, he did care, he cared a lot. “No. I do care, but I don’t mind— but I have questions.”

Now Rin was confused. “Questions? Like what?”

Haru steeled himself. “How did you know?”

“How did I— how do you think? I got hard thinking about guys.”

Haru frowned. That didn’t sound like the answer he was looking for. “Did you go out with them? Kiss them?”

“Yes, yes,” Rin blushed, “but nothing besides that.”

“Nothing besides…” Haru understood. “So no sex.”

Rin seemed to be relaxing a little, now that this appeared to be a weird Haru thing instead of a weird homophobia thing. “Yeah, it just never seemed right.”

“That sounds like you.”

“Hey!” Rin lightly nudged Haru’s shoulder in fake outrage. “But it seems like the guys I went out with just wanted to have sex while I’d want something more… you know.”

Haru thought he did. He didn’t like to think about some Australian just using Rin for sex while Rin developed all these romantic notions. He nodded.

“So is that what your issue was? You wanted to know how I knew? It’s not contagious, you do know that right—”

“I want to know if I’m gay too.”

Haru was glad he hadn’t offered Rin anything to drink yet; if he had, Rin definitely would have spit it all over the table. As it was, his jaw dropped in a way more literal than Haru had ever seen outside of a manga. “Uh— what?”

“I could be gay. I want to know.” Haru had now determined a course of action now and he was going to see it through.

“You, uh, don’t you, uh, like girls?” Rin was getting more flustered as the reality of what Haru was saying sunk in and Haru found himself enjoying the look on Rin: the color high in his cheeks, his eyes wide. He wondered what else he could do to shock Rin quite like this.

“No.” Haru tried to remember a time when he’d ever given Rin any indication of liking girls and couldn’t. “But I don’t know if I like boys either.”

Rin was collecting himself from what had appeared to be a mild heart attack. “You could trying meeting some? Kiss a couple?” He didn’t sound enthusiastic about the idea.

“I don’t want to kiss strangers.”

Rin looked at him sideways, like Haru was being even more out of his mind than usual. “You get to know them first, that’s why you go on dates—”

“Rin.”

“Yeah, Haru?” Rin focused on him closely, voice little more than a whisper.

“Kiss me so I can tell if I’m gay.”

Rin’s eyes widened again but Haru thought it had been perfectly obvious what he’d been about to ask and Rin was just dragging his feet. “We can’t do that, we’re friends!”

Haru rolled his eyes. “It’s a favor. Between friends.”

Rin was still flustered. “Kisses change things, Haru, you don’t get it—”

“You kissing Australians hasn’t changed anything, so why should this,” Haru said. “We’re still swimming together like we said.”

Rin’s mouth closed and opened like a fish out of water.

Haru decided to move in for the kill. “If you’re worried your kissing won’t be good, don’t be.”

Rin’s eyes flashed and his hands clenched into fists under the table. Bingo. “I’m not worried, what the  _fuck_ , I’m an excellent kisser!”

“I’ve never kissed anyone so it’s all the same to me.” Haru shrugged.

“Shut up! Fine, I’ll kiss you but if you don’t like it, don’t whine about my kissing, which many people have said is great.”

“Many people?”

“Like three people,” Rin mumbled.

“That’s a lot.”

“You are such a little— shut your mouth and let’s do this.”

“So romantic—” Haru started to say but he was cut off by, what else, Rin’s lips covering his own. Rin moved against him eagerly, taking advantage of Haru’s mouth being half open by sliding his tongue right in. It was silly, it was ridiculous and wet and hot and not something Haru ever would have imagined people did for fun, if he’d bothered to imagine kissing before this moment, but it felt so nice to have Rin pushing against him, moving his lips, working his tongue in between them. They touched only at the lips but Haru wondered if they could touch more, in other places.

Finally, Rin pulled away. “Was that okay?” He sounded unsure which isn’t how Haru wanted to him to sound at all.

“Yeah.” He brushed his eyes over Rin’s slightly swollen lips — did they always look so good? Or had kissing them made him lose his mind? — and added, “We could do better.”

Rin looked at him in surprise one more time before smirking. “We could. Always have to do your best.”

Then Rin lunged for him, more or less, pushing Haru back so he was lying on the floor, Rin next to him. And then Rin was kissing him again, soft little kisses but over and over again until Haru thought he was really was losing his mind, desperate for the contact to last more than a second.

Haru worked his hand up to Rin’s head and pulled him down, holding him in place, and Rin got the hint, opening his mouth as Haru opened his, and holding him down to the floor with his entire body, half-spread out over Haru. He could feel Rin from his head to his thighs as Rin worked one of his thighs between them. The moments seemed to stretch and they seemed to be moving constantly, feeling each other in new ways, but Haru wouldn’t let Rin pull away from the kiss and Rin seemed to have no desire to try.

When they did finally stop kissing, Rin only moved enough so his lips were against Haru’s ear, breathing heavily. “So. What did you think?”

“Okay,” he said, as though he wasn’t still twisting his hand in Rin’s hair.

“Just okay?” Rin asked, smug.

“Don’t fish for compliments.”

Rin laughed. “Your face right now is compliment enough.” He pressed his thumb to Haru’s bottom lip, which Haru could tell was swollen from kissing. “So what’s the verdict? Are you gay?”

Haru couldn’t believe Rin had to ask. “I like kissing one guy.” Rin grinned. “I’m going to have to kiss all the others before I make a decision.”

“What?!” Rin yelped.

“It wouldn’t be fair. You kissed at least three Australians,” Haru said seriously.  

Rin looked like he’d swallowed something very sour. “I guess that makes sense.” He laughed the forced laugh of a suffering man.

Haru decided to take pity on him. “Stop moping. I don’t want to kiss any other guys.”

Rin looked at him but their faces were so close that Haru couldn’t focus on him; Rin was just an impression of eyes and nose and mouth. “I don’t either.”

Haru nodded. “No more Australians.”

“No.” And when Rin leaned in to kiss him again, Haru met him halfway. He was getting the hang of this kissing thing.


	9. Impulse Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin is a delivery boy, Haru is a particularly memorable customer, and Rin can't help himself.

Sasabe grunted. “Hey, kid, you want to take this one?” He handed Rin an address slip and a pizza that smelled downright fishy. Rin turned up his nose. Ugh, who would order something like this?

“Can’t you take it?” Rin was supposed to be off shift in a half hour.

Sasabe pouted in a way completely pathetic for a grown man. “I know the address — it’s up like fifty stairs! You know I hurt my knee last week…”

“Maybe if you hadn’t been showing off on the scooter for the girls at that party,” he grumbled, but Sasabe was the boss so he grabbed his hat and warming bag.

The house was up a ton of stairs and he’d have to park the scooter at the bottom. He grabbed the bag with the pizza and hoped whatever joker had ordered the Mackerel Mayo & Spicy Seafood Supreme appreciated it.

At the top of the hill, thankful he’d kept up with his running even after being done with high school sports, he rang the bell. And rang the bell. And rang the bell again. “Pizza Shack! Delivery!” he called out. He was starting to think he’d been sent on a prank call — that would explain the disgusting pizza — when the door opened.

And immediately saw why it’d taken so long: standing in the doorway was a boy — man, really, about Rin’s age — dressed in nothing but a towel and the drips of water coming off his dark hair. He was beautiful and he was glaring.

Rin felt a twinge of irritation — who orders a pizza and then gets in the bath? — but he tried to use his best customer service voice. “Sorry for interrupting your bath!”

The customer grumbled. “Took you long enough.”

What the fuck? It had barely taken a half hour. But Rin had pissed off a customer two weeks ago (it wasn’t his fault they’d left the corn off his pizza but the customer hadn’t appreciated hearing it) and he didn’t want another lecture on how to talk to customers from Sasabe, of all people, so Rin forced himself to smile. “That will be 2500 yen.”

Grumpy Towel Boy handed him the money and reached to take the pizza. The towel was slipping dangerously low on his hips and Rin’s breath caught as the white fabric slid, revealing the crease of hip bones sloping down to— Rin thrust the pizza into the customer’s hands. The guy squinted at him and then adjusted the towel with one hand so it was secure. He’d noticed Rin staring.

“Thanks for your business!” Rin blurted out and took off down the stairs, leaving the customer staring in the doorway.

Back in the scooter, Rin pressed his head to the steering wheel. He hadn’t yelled at this customer but now he probably thought he was a total pervert. He didn’t expect he’d be ordering from them again.

—

But Mr. Grumpy Towel Boy up the hill called in the next week — same order, fish disaster pie — and then the week after that. Rin learned his name from the order sheet,  _Nanase Haruka_ , which was good since Sasabe was still whining about his knee and sending him up the hill. Every week, Friday night, Nanase would order a pizza, climb in the bath and then grumble at Rin for doing his job and every week, Friday night, Rin would deliver the pizza, bite back a sharp comment and then get distracted oogling Nanase in a towel. Rin would end up in the scooter mumbling to himself about how he needs to get laid so he can stop perving on fish men and driving away customers.   

Rin took a weekend off to visit his sister in Kyoto and came back to the pizza shop for his shift on Tuesday.

“Hey, Matsuoka! How was your trip? Your regular missed you,” Sasabe called from behind the counter as Rin walked in.

“My regular? Who?”

“That kid up the hill.”

Rin felt all the blood drain from his head as he realized who Sasabe meant. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, him. Haha. I think I remember who you mean.”

Sasabe looked at him oddly. “I brought his pizza up last Friday. He asked about you.”

Rin started to fiddle with his hat so Sasabe wouldn’t see his reaction. “Oh? What did he say?”

Sasabe shrugged. “Just asked where the usual guy was.”

Rin tried to will his heart to stop pounding. “What did you tell him?”

“I told him you were away, be back today.” Then Sasabe turned back to the computer that printed the online orders and smacked it, once, on the side of the monitor. “This thing is acting up again, can you take a look?”

Rin grumbled. He wasn’t good with computers but even a monkey would be better at them than Sasabe was. He tried to push the idea of Nanase asking about him out of his mind as he got to work.

—

He was successful, too, or as successful one could be distracting oneself with menial labor, until the evening when Sasabe handed him a slip. “This one’s definitely for you.” He winked.

Rin already knew what the address would be. Was he that transparent or was Sasabe just being an ass? He slid Nanase’s Let’s Eat the Entire Goddamn Ocean pizza into the warming bag and tried not to read anything into Nanase calling on a Tuesday when he knew Rin would be back. He couldn’t stop himself from running a little bit up the steps to Nanase’s house.

This time, he only had to ring the buzzer once. Nanase opened the door immediately and, while the glare was still there, the towel was gone: he was fully clothed in jeans and a worn gray sweatshirt over a (frankly terrifying) t-shirt of an open-mouthed dolphin saying BIG KISSES! Rin felt a wave of relief, because surely not even someone as hard up as Rin would be attracted to this clearly ocean-fixated fashion reject, but then he noticed how the gray brought out the color in Nanase’s ( _Haruka’s_ , he tried out mentally) eyes and he realized he was probably fucked.

“Where were you?” Nanase snapped. He didn’t have any money in his hands and he didn’t reach for the pizza.

Rin shifted immediately from confused attraction to irritation and couldn’t switch to polite low-wage service professional in time. “It takes 20 minutes to get here!”

Nanase’s brow furrowed. “No. I mean. On  _Friday_.”

“I went to Kyoto— how the hell is that your business?”

“You just take days off?”

Had this guy ever even worked a job? “Sometimes! But that’s not the point!”

“Hn.” Nanase grabbed the pizza and set it on the floor just past the genkan. He reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet and Rin’s eyes skimmed over Nanase’s pale hands touching the bills as he pulled them out. He swallowed.

Then Rin had a thought: if Nanase was going to ask rude questions, so could Rin. “Why are you ordering on a Tuesday anyway?”

Nanase looked up at him and pushed three bills into his hand. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Something about that look make Rin’s face heat, but he wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment or irritation. Rin shook his head. “Nothing about you is obvious. Thanks for your business,” he mumbled and turned to go down the stairs.

“You owe me change,” Nanase said.

Oh, of course, as it it wasn’t bad enough he’d oogled him and snapped at him, now Nanase was going to think he was stealing from him. He turned, pulling out a 500 yen coin from his change pack, and looked at Nanase, standing there with one hand out, expectant.

“Ah, fuck it,” Rin said and grabbed Nanase by his sweatshirt, dropping the coin, and pushing his lips against Nanase’s. Nanase must have been shocked, because his mouth opened. Rin moved his lips so they’d interlock with Nanase’s, working his bottom lip with a confidence he hadn’t expected. He tasted clean and cool and Rin was grateful he’d kissed him before he could eat any of that pizza. Then Nanase made a sound, halfway between a sigh and a grunt, and Rin thought he’d be happy to kiss him even if he tasted like gross fish pizza as long as he kept moving his lips against his.

Finally the rush of kissing Nanase faded a little and he pulled back, realizing what he’d done. What was he thinking, molesting a customer? He looked at Nanase’s wide eyes and ran like a bat out of hell down the stairs.

In the scooter, he once again pressed his forehead to the steering wheel, sure that Nanase would call to have him fired within the hour. His shift was over anyway, so he drove the scooter back and swiped his time card without talking to anyone.

—

Rin didn’t work at the pizza place again until Friday, so at least he didn’t have to immediately confront Sasabe firing him for unwanted advances towards a customer. He spent the week agonizing about it at his other two part-time jobs (Mari’s Magical Beads and xTReMe WaTeRSPoRTZ) and half-heartedly looked through job listings. He liked working at the Pizza Shack, though; it wasn’t exciting but it paid okay and he liked Sasabe and he got to meet interesting people — but that thought just brought back the memory of Nanase’s hips and stupid t-shirt and lips.

But when he came in on Friday, Sasabe didn’t say anything. Maybe it was because he was shouting into the phone.

“Listen, asshole, if you don’t stop calling here, I swear—” and ended in an aggravated cry. “Jackass hung up! Again!” He spun on Rin. “Matsuoka, thank God. I swear I’m losing it.”

Rin hesitated. It didn’t seem like he was going to be on the receiving end of a Sasabe Rampage but you never knew. “What’s up?”

“Prank calls! Some asshole keeps calling, breathing for a minute, and hanging up!” Sasabe slammed his fist on the table. “I’m going on break, I need a smoke. Can you get the phones?”

“Got it, boss.”

“And if that jackass calls again, tell him I’m calling the cops!”

Rin laughed. “Okay.”

“Don’t laugh! Forget the cops, tell him I’ll find him and fight him myself!” Sasabe stomped out the door. Rin wondered if the prank caller had saved his ass from getting fired by distracting him or if Sasabe just hadn’t heard he’d been kissing unwilling customers.

Sasabe had been gone for longer than any break entailed when the phone rang again. Rin grabbed it.

“Hello, this is Pizza Shack, may I take your order?”

There was silence on the line, just a long pause. Rin figured it was the same caller as before and, boy, this was a pain in the ass.

“Hello? Hello?” he tried again. “Oi! Stop prank calling us!”

“I’m not.” The voice sounded familiar.

Rin followed his gut feeling. “Nanase Haruka?”

“Yeah. Haru’s fine. Is this my— the delivery boy?”

Rin’s heart skipped a beat.  _Haru_?  _My_  delivery boy? And had Nanase – no,  _Haru_  – never even learned Rin’s name? Though he’d never offered it, he realized. “Yes. Yeah, it’s Matsuoka. Matsuoka Rin.”  

“Rin,” Haru muttered, half to himself, and before Rin could yell at him for being so familiar, he added, “I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”     

Rin thought about that for a second. “Hey! Have you been calling and hanging up?”

Another pause. “Maybe.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? My boss is having a heart attack—”

“I didn’t want to talk to him.”

“That doesn’t mean you can just hang up! Learn some manners!”

“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”

Rin flushed remembering his own rudeness. “Then say it if you want to! But you’re going to get me in trouble if you keep calling and hanging up.”

“Fine.”

“Okay.” Rin tried to collect himself into order-taking mode. “Do you want your usual?”

Haru was silent. “Does my usual include a kiss?”

Rin saw red. “Listen, you– you! I feel embarrassed as shit over that but I can’t take it back now and I wouldn’t even if I could! So if you don’t want me delivering your pizzas, call a different pizza place!”

Haru didn’t seem to have heard him. “Do kisses cost extra?”

Rin sputtered. “What the–? My kisses are not for sale!”

“So kisses are service, then?” Haru sounded genuinely confused but Rin could tell he was just being a little shit.

“No! They’re fucking not!” Rin let out a noise of frustration.

Haru was quiet again as Rin calmed down. “Can I order now?”

Rin pressed a hand to his face like his mom always did when she was at the end of her patience. “Yes. Please order.”

“I’d like my usual.” Rin wrote down “disgusting fish pile” on the pad while Nanase paused. “With a kiss.”

“Oi, seriously? I just told you—”

“Don’t send that other guy up with my pizza. Only you.”

“Only me– what?”

“And I want it whenever you’re getting off work.”

“Oh.” Rin’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh.”

“Is that—” Haru hesitated for the first time Rin had heard. “Is that okay?”

Rin felt his throat tighten. “Yeah, it’s okay. I’ll see you then. Around 8.”

“See you. Rin,” Haru said and hung up. Then Rin was smiling, full-on grinning to himself, and when he looked down at the order pad, he saw he’d doodled a pair of lips and written a little  _chuu_. He quickly ripped the sheet off and rewrote the order properly to give to the cook in the back, tucking the first one into his pocket.

He pumped one fist in the air and let out a little celebratory, “Yes!”  

Of course, Sasabe came in at that exact moment. “Matsuoka! Get back to work!”

“Yes, boss, sorry, boss,” Rin said, but the work, suddenly, didn’t seem as boring as it had before. He had a pizza to deliver, even if it wasn’t for another six hours, to a boy who wanted to kiss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: so m tweeted that she wants someone to live with her and make her food and cuddle her. like a spouse, right?  
> me: i was thinking that sounded nice... i'd want someone to give me food and a little bit of a cuddle after a long day  
> me: but i don't want to live with anyone.  
> me: i'd want them to leave right after they gave me the food  
> me: delivery  
> me: i'm thinking of delivery  
> me: but the delivery person gives me a kiss on the forehead before they leave 
> 
> this is not exactly how the conversation went but it was close. kiss on the forehead was a cute idea, but didn't end up making sense so i just had rin go for it. 
> 
> [also this is Haru's t-shirt](http://item.rakuten.co.jp/bcl-shop/dc-116/), i really did google "イルカ　Tシャツ" looking for something to describe and i was rewarded beyond my wildest dreams.


	10. Wedding (Planning) Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haru and Rin plan their wedding; the guys help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted this on tumblr ages ago and somehow never migrated it here - I think I wasn't happy with it and I was annoyed because I didn't hit my word count goal and then the mook came out and I was busy crying for 10,000 years. ANYWAY, I'm moving on to other projects, I'm happy I kind of succeeded at this 30 kisses challenge AND I'm 100% sure it was everybody drawing/writing/reading/reblogging kisses that got us, honestly, closer to a kiss in the mook than I'd have ever hoped. RIN BIT HARU'S NECK IN CANON (KIND OF) THERE'S A PICTURE AND I OWN IT. truly a fujoshi miracle ;_; 
> 
> Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing!

“Not the boat,” Haru said, pushing the Euphonia Cruise brochure to the “no” pile with only the slightest twinge of regret, and picked up the next one.

“Eh? I’d have thought you’d have jumped right on that!” Nagisa tilted his head at the piles of brochures and print-outs he’d carefully collected (with the organizational assistance of Rei, who sat next to him with the folders for the next decision they’d have to make.)

“He’s worried about Makoto,” Rin said. It still surprised Haru that Rin could read him so well now, though they had been living together for five years. They had their miscommunications, of course, and they had their all-out screaming matches, but they’d grown less and less frequent as they’d settled down into adult life. Haru didn’t add that he wasn’t just worried about Makoto; he also didn’t want to make Rin’s mother get on a boat, even if it was a giant yacht safely harbored in Tokyo Bay. (Tokyo Bay was a poor substitute for the Japan Sea off Iwatobi, in Haru’s opinion, but they hadn’t been able to find a venue in Tottori that was gay friendly.)

Makoto waved them off and shook his head sheepishly. “Don’t rule it out because of me!”

“You’re officiating, of course we won’t have it somewhere that might give you a panic attack.” Rin flipped over a pamphlet for a place that looked more like a love hotel than a wedding venue and grimaced.

Haru knew Rin was more worried about the wedding than he was letting on, knew that he wanted this to be the most beautiful wedding Japan had ever seen even if (especially because) it couldn’t be legally registered. Haru believed him when Rin said that all he cared about was proving his commitment to Haru to the world, but he knew Rin was also thinking of the news stories when they’d taken their relationship public — mostly supportive for Japan’s most famous swimmers, but some with cutting comments about whether or not they were fit to compete.

“This one.” Haru pushed a flyer for “Saint Sebastian Chapel” over to Rin. It had an ocean view but wasn’t on a boat. More importantly, the picture this venue had chosen to advertise the wedding hall was sure to get Rin to smile.

“Ha!” Rin slapped his hand on the brochure in triumph and Haru too felt a little thrill of success as the worry lines on Rin’s forehead eased. “Nagisa! This one!”

Makoto twisted his neck so he could see and he laughed too. “That’s too perfect.”

The picture on the cover was of a long wedding aisle strewn with — what else? — pink cherry blossoms. Behind the couple at the front of the hall, through a wall of glass, stretched the ocean, sparkling just like the bride’s smile.

“You can have cherry blossoms brought in to any of the venues,” Rei chimed in. “In fact, I have lists of florists right here…” He rifled through his folders.

“I know,” Rin said, studying the brochure with gleaming eyes. “But it’s good to see how it would look. It feels like a sign.” Then, a little more hesitantly: “What do you think, Haru?”

“It’s fine.” Haru knew he was going to get that look from Rin, the one he got when he wasn’t communicating effectively, so he added, “I told you I like whatever you like.”

“Man, what am I doing marrying such an unenthusiastic guy anyway?” Rin griped but his voice was fond.

Haru reached out a hand underneath the table and took Rin’s as an answer. Rin, not to be outdone on the romantic gestures, lifted Haru’s hand to his mouth and pressed a quick kiss to the back of it, never breaking eye contact with Haru as he did it. Haru felt a rise of emotions to match the movement of his hand in Rin’s — butterflies in his stomach like they were eighteen again, exasperation that they were stuck wedding planning with the others and couldn’t just make out, a rush of the memory of every time Rin had done this before. 

When they’d first gotten together, stuff like that, especially in front of other people, made Haru feel silly; he liked Rin putting his arm around his shoulder in public and he liked Rin naked and writhing underneath him in bed but he hadn’t known how to navigate the in-between areas, sudden kisses on the cheek and soft whispers against his ear. He knew Rin liked it though, the performance of romance to match its intensity, so he’d started to like it too, if only for the knowledge that this was what Rin needed. It was who Rin was, to look suddenly at Haru like no one else was in the room and to think a press of dry lips against a thin hand could communicate the greatest emotions. 

Haru had come to believe it too, at last, just like Rin had shown him how to believe in his dreams all those years ago. He still didn’t initiate displays of affection in public, though. 

Nagisa whistled. “You two are going to be so embarrassing at this wedding, every old lady within ten blocks is going to need her smelling salts.”

“Nagisa!” Rei and Makoto both cried.

“What?! It’s true!” 

Rin grinned widely. “They won’t know what hit them. Right, babe?”

Haru glared. “Don’t call me that,” he said, but he squeezed Rin’s hand a little and didn’t let go.


End file.
